Tag Archives: Freedom

This article is the first in a two part series about the people involved in the legal proceedings surrounding allegations of sexual misconduct against Julian Assange. The aim of the article is to provide a jumping-off point for people unfamiliar with the story, so they can get informed.

Here are brief bios of some of the participants:

Mark Stephens is a solicitor representing Julian Assange. The 48 year old has been practicing the law since being admitted as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court in England and Wales in July 1982. He is a partner in the law firm Finers Stephens Innocent with a record of representing high profile clients such as Salman Rushdie. He is an expert in the fields of libel and copyright law.

Geoffrey Robertson, QC is an Australian human rights and media lawyer and author. Born in 1946, he studied law at Sydney University before coming to the UK to study at Oxford. Since being admitted as a barrister in 1973, he has been involved in many significant cases, representing clients such as the Wall Street Journal and the Dow Jones. He was made Queen’s Counsel in 1988. His academic record includes visiting professorships and the University of Warwick and the University of New South Wales. He is currently visiting professor in human rights law at Queen Mary College, University of London.

Jennifer Robinson is a solicitor with the human rights, media and international litigation group at Finers Stephens Innocent. She qualified as a solicitor in Australia and came to the UK to study at Oxford on a Rhodes scholarship. In 2008 she was named by the UK Attorney-General as a National Pro Bono Hero for her international advisory work on international law and human rights. At one point she worked with Geoffrey Robinson, QC.

Leif Silbersky is a well-known Swedish lawyer. Born in 1938, he has been involved in some extremely controversial cases. He represented Assange until September when Assange took exception to what he saw as Silbersky’s lack of engagement with the case and replaced him with Bjorn Hurtig.

Bjorn Hurtig is a criminal defence lawyer with Försvarsadvokaterna Stockholm. He was appointed by Assange in September after Leif Silbersky was removed from the case.

John Jones is a solicitor representing Julian Assange. He has been practising the law since 1992, after completing a PPE at Oxford. He is a specialist in the law of extradition. He is a colleague of Geoffrey Robertson, QC, at Doughty Street Chambers.

Gemma Lindfield is a London barrister with legal practice 7 Bedford Row. She has acted as a Senior Crown Prosecutor and is the Swedish prosecution’s proxy in the Assange case. Her profile on the 7 Bedford Row website underlines her expertise in “drafting extradition requests and European arrest warrants.”

Howard Riddle is a Senior District Judge for the City of Westminster. On the 7th of December he denied bail to Julian Assange and ordered that he be remanded in custody until the 14th of December.

Claes Borgström is the lawyer representing the two women with whom Julian Assange had sexual relations on his trip to Sweden in August of this year. Born in 1944, he has been practicing the law since 1974. From 2000 he worked as the Equal Opportunities Ombudsman for the Swedish government. He left this post in 2007 and returned to the practising the law. Since 2008 he is the Swedish Social Democratic Party’s spokesperson on gender equality issues.